Daedalus and the Deep pictorial Guide 2 – Fighting

Weaponry of one form or another is quite important in Daedalus and the Deep, as with much historic naval fiction.

HMS Daedalus had a broadside battery of twenty heavy 32-pounder cannon, as well as carronades (a short-range, lightweight cannon) and smaller weapons. The following images of the gundecks on HMS Warrior (5), built 1860 and HMS Victory (6), built 1765, show that the basic layout had not changed in a hundred years. Daedalus’ gundeck would have been less cramped than this after she had been re-rated to corvette, but otherwise looked similar.

Chasers – In addition to the broadside armament, she had two ‘chase guns’, or chasers, used when the ship was pursuing or being pursued. These were of a slightly more modern design to Napoleonic-era ships, as they had a system of rails that enabled them to be aimed very precisely. Here those of HMS Gannet and HMS Warrior respectively – slightly more modern versions, though the arrangement is very similar.

Daedalus’ chasers were mounted on the upper deck like those of Warrior, while Gannet’s bow chaser is enclosed within the forecastle and has embrasures at either side to fire through. Because of the rails (7) the gun could be pointed at almost any angle from directly ahead to slightly behind (even on Gannet where the gun fires through quite a small aperture).